I see food pictures posted in Facebook and Twitter now and then. All too often these pictures are terrible. They most certainly do not make one want to sample the dish. The big mistake is light. The photographer uses room lights to illuminate the dish, like fluorescents or LEDs, or they blast a strobe straight at the plate.
For good, sometimes great, pictures of food simply use window light. You want soft window light and not harsh, full on sunlight. And it is nice if the ceiling in the room is a good, clean white. It is the white ceiling that is reflected in the cutlery.
The middle of the day is best. The light is stronger. Put off your shoot to evening and you may well not have adequate light. It most cases I prefer a small aperture to that I can use a small f/stop like f/11 or f/16. But, if necessary, one can work with shallow depth of field as long as the colour is accurately mouthwatering.
I used this technique to shoot food shots for many publications. I never had a photo rejected.
And what food is shown? This is the lunch my wife served her neighbourhood lady friends who stopped by to help her make Christmas cookies. All the ladies wore masks and staked out their own corner of the kitchen in which to work. It was a Covid-19 aware day.
No comments:
Post a Comment